An Al-shabaab insurgent who has appeared on several propaganda videos mocking Kenyan authorities is on the run and seeking to surrender if granted amnesty.
Ahmed Iman alias Kimanthi, reports Daily Nation, has fallen out with other al shabaab commanders and they are now baying for his blood.
He rose through the ranks and was a close confidant to current commanders Ahmed Diriye and Mahad Karate-alias Abdirahim Mohamed Warsame who heads the militia’s intelligence wing known as Amniyat.
Karate headed the operation in Garissa where Al-shabaab gunmen killed 147 students at Garissa University in 2015.
After the Garissa attack, Iman appeared in a propaganda video lauding the terrorist act which he defended saying it was to avenge the killing of radical Muslim clerics where he mentioned slain Aboud Rogo, and Sheikh Abubakar Shariff alias Makaburi.
You Tube has since pulled down the video among others he uploaded.
Iman has been the head of a group of foreign fighters according to international security sources.
All together, they are on the run from Commanders Diriye and Karate who command a huge following.
Iman is very influential in Jaysh Ayman, an Al-Shabaab faction with its operation base in Boni Forest.
The fall out has been inspired by among other things, emergence of a faction pledging allegiance to Islamic State of Syria while the Diriye-led faction has been working in partnership with Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan.
A source privy to the fallout disclosed that Iman has been receiving foreign funding directly, a move that has angered infuriated indigenous Somali commanders.
Going by a 2016 security report, Iman and his accomplices collected millions of shillings from rented shops in Umoja and Majengo area in a year. The money was later channeled towards terrorism activities.
On Tuesday, US military launched an airstrike killing 100 insurgents in Somalia.